Back Workout of the Week (BWOW): Week 2 Building Your Back Strength

Last week I introduced you briefly to why training your back is so important (training balance, support your squat, deadlift and bench press, creating the classical ‘V-shaped’ upper body). In my own experience, a heavy emphasis on rowing exercises has led to a very strong bench press (two Washington State records, one USA Powerlifting national meet record, and a gold medal at the IPF masters world championships).
Week 2 training is very similar to week 1. We are still focused on building your strength foundation. Although the overall plan is very similar, we change the exercise selection to prevent your body from adjusting to the stimulus.

BWOW – Week 2:

Goal:Building Your Strength Base

T-bar Rows:

  • Warm up to your working sets
  • 5 sets/4 repetitions per set
  • Select a weight where you are using nearly maximum effort to complete your reps, additional reps would require cheating
  • Minimize cheating – avoid using upper body momentum to complete your reps; one of the reasons to switch from barbell rows to t-bar rows this week to reduce the tendency to cheat on the lift
  • Use wrist straps if necessary to hold the bar
  • Rest between sets should be sufficient to fully recover (3-5 minutes); emphasis is on building strength, not conditioning

Dumbbell Rows – Unsupported:

  • 3 sets/6 reps per set
  • Select a weight where you are using maximum effort to complete the set, you should be unable to complete more than the specified reps
  • While we switched to the t-bar to reduce cheating on your primary exercise, the dumbbell row is performed unsupported to allow slightly more cheating; you should be able to pull more weight than last week when using the bench for support – force your back and biceps to move a little more weight than you normally would during your dumbbell rows
  • Use wrist straps if necessary to hold the dumbbells
  • Rest between sets should be sufficient to fully recover

Hammer Strength Rows:

  • 3 sets/12 reps per set
  • Select a weight where you are using maximum effort to complete the set
  • Pull your elbows straight back and really squeeze your lats tightly to finish each rep; you really want your muscles burning when you finish each set
  • Rest between sets should be sufficient to fully recover

Pull-ups:

  • 3 sets to failure; use spotter assistance or an assisted pull-up machine if you cannot complete 6 reps
  • Pull-ups should be extremely challenging after hammering your back and biceps
  • If you can still complete more than 8 reps, complete your pull-ups with extra weight (and add more weight to your t-bar and dumbbell rows next time you do this workout)

Hammer Curls:
I know we did hammer curls last week, but to quote Louie Simmons (West Side Barbell) hammer curls are “something that should always be done” (Dynamic  Bench Press)

  • 3 sets/10 reps per set
  • As with pull-ups, you will have to drop the weight from your normal bicep workout, your biceps should be spent by now
  • Hammer curls are meant to work your biceps – don’t use your whole body to complete the reps; if you can’t do the work with your biceps drop the weight

Back Workout of the Week BWOW2

If you want to start at the beginning, you can check out Back Workout of the Week #1 – BWOW1



Brute Force Squat Review – Ken Gack

Having had a chance to assess a couple of lifts, and overall pretty happy with my skills at identifying problems I asked me to look at one of my own lifts:

As you can tell by the five big guys catching me at the end of the video, this lift ranks a solid ‘Crappy’ on the ‘Crappy to Great’ scale. I would actually rate it below crappy if there were a lower rating, because in addition to the lift being completed by the spotters, it was a bit high. So at what point did this lift become a group effort?

Setting Up: The setup was actually very solid and well executed.

  • Feet placed directly under the bar and under my hips
  • Hips under the bar and leg drive used to lift the bar out of the rack
  • Three quick, stable steps back into the lifting position

Gack's Fancy Foot Diagram

Referring back to what has been dubbed ‘Gack’s Fancy Foot Diagram’, it looks like my setup was perfect, doesn’t it? What you don’t see is my feet. If you watch me setup today, after the walkout you will see me pause to turn my toes outward – I did not do that in this squat.

Eccentric/Descent: The squat actually continues to look good nearly through the entire eccentric portion of the lift:

  • Very good speed on the descent – weight is controlled, but descent is fast enough to hit the hole and rebound back out
  • Knees stay out during the descent
  • Catastrophe: As I transition from eccentric to concentric (ie stop going down, try to go up), my knees buckle inward; this forces my hips backwards which results in five very big guys assisting with the concentric portion of the lift – and three red lights from the referees

Concentric/Ascent: Assistance of the spotters in the concentric portion of the lift in competition is never a good thing.

Lessons Learned: After returning from the competition my powerlifting coach, Kevin Stewart, went to work fixing my balance problems. The fix: turn your toes out. As I’ve mentioned in other reviews, by turning your toes out, you’re better able to keep your knees out during the lift, which lets you sink into the hole more easily, and complete your squat with less people picking you up out of said hole.

The fix has worked. Since that competition in 2009, I have not lost a single squat due to issues with my balance coming out of the hole.



Back Workout of the Week (BWOW): Week 1 – Building the Strength Base

Why is strengthening my back important? To the less educated, a big upper body means large pecs and (unfortunately) large biceps. In fact, your back consists of a larger group of muscles than your chest, and quite frankly it is a massive back that lets you blot out the sun as you step through a doorway.

But that’s not why we emphasize the back at Brute Force. If you read What Is Brute Force, you recall that rule #2 is to follow a balanced training program. Your back (pulling exercises) needs to balance out your pecs (pushing exercises). More importantly a strong back results in bigger lifts.

Bench Press: Your lats are the foundation you press from. Build strong lats and you’ll feel like you’re pressing off a granite table.

Squat: A strong back will help prevent you from crumpling when you hit the hole with a massive load on your back. Although a leg exercise, where does the bar rest during the squat? On your back!

Deadlift: Your back anchors the weight and is the transition point between the weight hanging from your arms and your power base driving down through the floor.

Brute Force approach to back training:

As with other Brute Force workouts, working your back is meant to be simple and straightforward.  Focus is on the horizontal/transverse plane, and emphasis is on your basic compound lifts (again, rule #2) – lots of rows. This workout is intended to maximize the carryover to your bench press.

BWOW – Week 1:

Goal: Building a Strength Base – move as much weight as you can with good form

Barbell Rows/Bent-over Rows:

  • Warm up to your working sets
  • 5 sets/4 repetitions per set
  • Select a weight where you are using nearly maximum effort to complete your reps, additional reps would require cheating
  • Minimize cheating – avoid using upper body momentum to complete your reps
  • Use wrist straps if necessary to hold the bar
  • Rest between sets should be sufficient to fully recover (3-5 minutes); emphasis is on building strength, not conditioning

Dumbbell Rows – Supported:

  • 3 sets/6 reps per set
  • Select a weight where you are using maximum effort to complete the set, you should be unable to complete more than the specified reps
  • Use wrist straps if necessary to hold the dumbbells
  • Rest between sets should be sufficient to fully recover

Cable Rows:

  • 3 sets/6 reps per set
  • Select a weight where you are using maximum effort to complete the set
  • Minimize cheating – rocking back using momentum to complete the reps
  • Squeeze the weight tightly with your back at the top for a moment before lowering it between reps
  • Rest between sets should be sufficient to fully recover

Pull-ups:

  • 3 sets to failure; use spotter assistance or an assisted pull-up machine if you cannot complete 6 reps
  • Pull-ups should be extremely challenging after smoking your back and biceps with 11 sets of rows at a high intensity
  • If you can still complete more than 8 reps, either you are a hero, or you didn’t push yourself hard enough on your rows; in either case do your pull-ups with extra weight

Hammer Curls:

  • 3 sets/10 reps per set
  • As with pull-ups, you will have to drop the weight from your normal bicep workout, your biceps should be spent by now
  • Hammer curls are meant to work your biceps – don’t use your whole body to complete the reps; if you can’t do the work with your biceps drop the weight
Week 1 is just a start. You may not be darkening the doorways yet, but I think you’ll find progress is remarkably quick. Next week we’ll continue building the strength foundation.
BWOW Workout Plan:  Back Workout of the Week BWOW1



Brute Force Strength Training Review – The Squat

Last week I took a look at a friend’s deadlifts (Jamie Orr, Red Deer, Canada). This week he sent me a video of his latest squat session:

JO:  Hey Ken,  appreciated the pointers last time on the DL. When/if you have time could you look at my squat? This one is 405 REALLY happy with first rep. Will send another at 365lbs, I feel the form is better. I am on a bit of a high today, I was pretty happy with these last sets. As I said, due to a year of crossfit “air squats” I was pretty happy getting 405. Seriously, I have done 3 weeks of leg press to get used to heavy leg workouts and yesterday was my first real squat day in over a year.

 I know I step back too far, and I think my head dips.

 Thanks, Jamie

 

Your squats actually look better than your deadlifts. They are very sound. On the ‘Crappy to Great Scale’, they are a solid ‘Ok’. I would give you a ‘Good’, but they are slightly high, and I don’t care if everything else is perfect, I’m not giving a Good to a high squat. We’ll get to that though.

Before you step under the bar…

Let’s start with your shoes. They look like standard runners, right? When you hit about 315lbs the heels start compressing, which can really screw with your stability. If you’re not competing, you don’t need an expensive pair of squat shoes (although I absolutely love mine), but you do need to replace the runners. Some options:

  • Squat without shoes – better than using runners, but you won’t have any ankle or foot support.
  • Wrestling shoes or Converse ‘Chucks’ – descent stability, and flat soles that won’t compress. Chucks are probably the better choice, as wrestling shoes have a very narrow sole that will give you less stability. They’re also a bit less expensive.
  • Hiking boots – I used to really like squatting in boots. Your heels are a bit higher, great ankle support, and just plain solid. When you plant your foot, it is planted. They’re not, however, legal in competition.

 Setting up…

You rush your setup. As soon as the bar comes out of the rack, you’re running back to squat. A good setup positions you for a great squat.

Pointers on setting up:

  • You do have proper bar placement for heavy squats. It’s resting on your delts, not your traps, which is a good position for power.
  • I would prefer the rack height slightly lower. That can be difficult, depending on the type of rack you have because the next position down is likely too low. I like the rack set up where the bar comes in about halfway between the nipples and top of the pecs when you step up to the bar. You may see if the gym has any extra floor mats (solid flooring mats, not something that will compress under your weight), to bring you up another inch or so.
  • Before lifting out of the rack, drive your hips forward so they are directly underneath the bar. This allows you to use all leg drive to unrack the bar, reducing lower back work, and makes the bar feel considerably lighter coming out of the rack.
  • Slow your setup down, control it coming out of the rack, just as you do your reps:
    • Take a deep breath into your chest, drive your hips forward and raise the bar straight up. Lock out before stepping back.
    • Take one short step straight back, next foot moves back even with the first and out to the side, toes pointed out. First foot moves straight out, and toes point out (two step walkout is slightly different).
    • Lock back out, and take small breaths until you’re ready to begin the first rep.
  • I would recommend a slightly narrower stance – 1-2″. Although ‘’wide stance’ is commonly considered a powerlifting stance, I don’t necessarily recommend a wide stance in most cases. I think you’ll get more power out of your glutes and hams by bringing your stance in a bit. Wide stance make sense in certain situations:
    • If you’re squatting in federations that allow heavy lifting duty gear and use of monolift, the shorter range of motion can lead to bigger numbers.
    • If you have proportionately long thighs, a narrower stance will force your hips to shift farther backwards, and cause you to lean. A wider stance can alleviate this.
  • You do point your toes out – which is good. This allows your knees to track outward, making it much easier to drop below parallel.
  • You’re not completely locked out before starting your first rep. You’re leaning slightly forward, and your knees aren’t locked out.

 Squatting…

Your squats doo look pretty strong, only a couple of minor things I saw:

You lean forward slightly. It’s not too bad, but this will make hitting depth harder. A couple things that may help you reduce your lean:

  • Keep your head up. I didn’t notice an exaggerated head dip, but your body will follow your eyes – if you are looking down you will have a greater tendency to lean. Squatting in front of a mirror can exacerbate the problem. The motion in the mirror draws your attention, making it more difficult to keep your head up.
  • Breathing – since your spotter makes the comment ‘take that breath and hold it’ I assume your breathing isn’t perfect. Breathe in deeply before starting your descent, and hold it until you’re on your way back up. I like to begin exhaling in a controlled fashion once I’ve passed the ‘sticking point’. Breath control can be very important for stability. Keeping your chest full of air and your abs tight can give you upper body stability and reduce your tendency to lean.
  • When I see high squats and leaning, I watch the knees. If you allow them to cave inward, your hips shift backwards. This forces you to lean in compensation and miss depth. Your knees look like they stay out through the reps – which is good.

Squat is slightly high

  • Depth isn’t too bad, but about 1-2″ above parallel. You have plenty of strength at a good weight – don’t be afraid to sink they weight. Fixing the leaning mentioned above will make hitting depth much easier.

All in all, a very OK squats at a pretty heavy weight. I looked at the 365lb squats as well. Although the lighter squats were executed more explosively, your 405lb squats were just as solid as your 365lb squats. I don’t really have additional comments on the other video.

Recommendations for next week:

  • Fix all the setup issues I mentioned. You should be able to do that perfectly on every set – you have the time to think about everything you do during setup.
  • Set up so you’re not looking at the mirror while you squat.
  • Bring your feet in 2″. Watch your feet as you walk out, and place them just slightly wider than shoulder width.
  • Control your breathing throughout each rep of each set.
  • Pick a spot on the ceiling, and keep your head up, eyes on that spot throughout each rep of every set.

For more information, here is a complete walk through of (power) squatting technique.

If you have a lift you’d like reviewed, leave a comment with a link to a video of your lift.